Amory and Nadia made their way out of the car, abandoning all thoughts of their bags and instead rushing up the steps of the porch and pulling open the front door to the house. Ophelia, Lou, Marc, and Caspar were all sitting around the living room, their individual bags in front of them as if they were waiting for something. When the door slid open, each of their heads shot up.

"Guys!" Ophelia was the first to yell, rushing forward. Amory couldn't help but think that she matched the speed and force of a linebacker. She jumped easily into his arms, stunning him for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her small frame.

While Ophelia and Amory hugged, Marc took the opportunity to ruffle Nadia's hair, which she had taken out of her bun. After she huffed and flipped her hair out of her face, her mock annoyance slid away before she pulled Marc into an embrace. He was much taller than her, and significantly more toned than she remembered. Once they pulled back, Marc hardly had a second to breathe before Amory was pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

The welcomes went on like that for a few minutes, everyone taking time to hug and add some small quip. Lou had been nervous to see Amory, perhaps even more nervous than she was to see Caspar. Some part of her feared that he would be too cool for her now, what with his verified checkmarks across all social media platforms and various doting fans who adored him for more than just his skills as a wide receiver. Still, Amory looked at her with no lost love and hugged her just the same as he always had.

"We were waiting, of course," Ophelia paused, after the revolving cycle of hugs was done. "We didn't want to pick rooms until you both were here."

There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the home. The master was on the main floor, right next to the biggest bathroom. Then there was a kitchen that led to a dining room, and to the right a living room. Before going upstairs, you could enter the second room at the bottom of the steps. Up the stairs led to the third bedroom, another living space, and the second bathroom. The two rooms on the first floor only had a queen bed in each, whereas the room upstairs held a bunkbed and two twin beds.

On their two spring break trips here, Vallie and Lou had taken the master while Ophelia and Nadia took the other room with the queen bed. That left the three boys to share the room upstairs, with Caspar and Marc each taking a twin bed and Amory alternating between the top and bottom bunk each night. It was a rather large bunk bed, but he was still a rather large guy, so he never could really get comfortable.

The cabin, if you could even call it that, was one that Vallie's grandfather had bought in the 70s and left to her father when he passed. The decorations and layout certainly matched the era it was bought in, with the Wright family unable to afford large-scale renovations that many other Poconos homeowners could. The hardwood floors were scratched and the rugs well worn, with wallpaper covering the bedrooms and colorful tiles lining the bathrooms. It had a sort of charm, though, and the family certainly kept it clean.

"Vallie and Tyler are taking the master, I assume." Amory spoke, a light edge to his voice. As he spoke her name out loud, he was struck with the realization he had not yet seen her.

At the sound of his name, Tyler emerged from the dining room to the living room in which they were all standing. He didn't waste time with pleasantries. From the moment he entered the room, Amory could feel him sizing him up.

"Yeah, we'll be in the master." Tyler answered, wiping his hands off on a tea towel. "But, uh, I'm sure they've told you."

"Told us what?" Nadia tilted her head to the side, eying Tyler for a moment before looking away. She was unfortunately cursed with the memory that Tyler had most certainly tried to hit on her at his own wedding.

"Uh, well..." Marc scratched at the back of his neck, starting like he wanted to explain then deciding better of it.

"Vallie had to pick up a couple extra shifts at the hospital." Tyler answered flatly, his gaze still fixed pointedly at Amory. "You know her, she can't ever say no. So she'll be joining us in two days."

It felt as if a rug had been pulled out from under Amory. Not only was Tyler there, but he had to forego the next three days of his vacation with him and not Vallie. Some foolish part of him had hoped that they would see each other and things would be like they once were and he could explain why he acted the way he did the night she showed up crying on his doorstep. Now, though, she had abandoned them, again, and left them to deal with her sorry excuse of a husband for three whole days.

"You're fucking joking, right?" Amory's expression was flat, but there was a bite to his words. Each member of his friend group picked up on it immediately, straightening their backs or busying themselves with their cuticles.

"What do you want me to say, man?" Tyler tossed the tea towel in his hands over one shoulder before placing his hands on his hips. "You think I'm not pissed at her, too?" There was a lot left unspoken in that sentence, a lot to read between the lines. Without explicitly saying it, he was pointing to the fact that, no, he did not want to spend anytime alone with their group either. "She said they're low on staff and someone just quit without notice and her supervisor offered her some big bonus to start her vacation time late. Like I said, she can't ever say no."

Amory could think of one time in particular that he really wished she would have said no.

"Alright, then." Nadia clapped her hands, trying to pull focus. She could see the two sizing each other up, all primal and testosterone filled, and she needed to get the conversation steered away. "Let's just get back to the room situation, shall we? It seems the biggest argument is who is going to get the guest room on the first floor. That bed will fit two people, so I think two of us should get to stay down here and the other four should have that room upstairs."

"And how should we split things up the fairest way, then?" Caspar questioned, raising his brows. He was normally so very quiet, but he wanted the downstairs bedroom, so he was willing to speak up.

"A game!" Ophelia suggested excitedly with the clasp of her hands. "Whoever wins gets the downstairs bedroom and can choose who stays with them, then the other four can go upstairs!"

Tyler scoffed at this and sulked away, back to whatever task he was completing in the dining room. Clearly, he did not care where the others ended up and he was not even slightly interested in the end result. Amory tried to discard the lingering irritability his presence caused, with little success.

"I love you Lia, you know I do, but I just got off of a 12 hour flight and I think I'll pass out long before we can even decide on a game." Nadia's sentence was punctuated with a yawn, which she had not intended for.

"We could draw names out of a hat." Marc suggested with a shrug. "Probably our fairest bet."

There were a few hums of agreement before Amory was forced to go retrieve his suitcase from the car and dig his Lions cap out of it. Ophelia was the one who went and asked Tyler for a pen and paper, whom acted like it was the biggest inconvenience to take two seconds away from tidying the dining room. Ophelia wrote each name out and crumpled the torn slips of paper before dropping them in the cap.

"Who wants to do the honors?" Amory asked, shaking the cap in his hand to mix the slips of paper around.

Nadia was too tired to wait for the group to decide who was going to pick, so without any hesitation she stuck her hand in and pulled a slip out. Everyone waited with bated breath as she unfolded the paper and let her eyes scan over it.

"Amory."

Amory smiled brightly, thanking a god he wasn't completely sure he believed in for at least one good thing coming his way that day. His eyes immediately fell to Marc, who seemed like his obvious pick. They had been roommates at one time, they could handle the close proximity, and he was the one he had remained closest with. Before he could say his name, though, his eyes were pulled to Lou. She looked at him as if she were almost pleading, though he couldn't figure out why. His brows knit in confusion, but his mind was made up.

"Alright, Lou, you're with me."

Lou breathed out a small sigh of relief, mentally making a note to thank Amory later. The thought of seven days sharing a room with Caspar had been enough to spook her, and had she not gotten chosen for the room downstairs she was already planning a good excuse to sleep on the couch. Luckily, Amory saved her from that.

There was minimal complaints about the arrangement. They were all in their mid-20s and broke, save for Amory and Nadia, and they didn't have to pay anything to stay there. If that meant having to share a room, so be it.

Ophelia was the first up the stairs, wanting to take her pick of the beds. It wasn't a very big room, but the twin beds were parallel in the corners of the room furthest from the door, and the bunk bed was perpendicular to them and to the right of the door as soon as she walked in. Ophelia picked a twin bed and plopped on top of it, claiming it as her own. There were no dressers in the room, with the Wright family choosing to take up space with beds rather than any other kind of furniture, so she knew her and the others would be living out of their suitcases for the next week.

Marc laughed when he entered the room and saw Ophelia perched on top of her bed, her legs folded beneath her and her smile like a child's. He paused and glanced back at Caspar, who was waiting in the doorway just behind him.

"You good with us taking the bunkbeds?" When Caspar nodded, Marc carried on. "Top or bottom?"

Caspar cleared his throat, choking on a small laugh. Marc realized his mistake and his eyes widened while the tips of his ears warmed.

Caspar had a good 4 inches of height on Marc, so the chances of him hitting his head while ascending or descending the top bunk seemed a lot more likely. He nudged his way into the room and placed his bags on the bottom bunk, to no objections from Marc.

Marc lobbed his bags on to the top bunk, then moved across the room to take a seat with Ophelia. Just as he was going to ask what their plans for the day should be, Nadia entered the room in a huff.

"Oh thank god, you guys left one of the twin beds for me." Nadia breathed out in genuine delight. "Alright, I'm about to throw my suitcase on the floor and sleep until my head doesn't hurt, so someone please shut off the light. Wake me for dinner."

"Sweet dreams, Queen Nadia." Marc paused with a teasing smile. The nickname was something Amory had adopted, calling her it anytime she showed up late or got too competitive. Nadia was already making herself comfortable in the bed, so rather than responding she simply raised a hand and flipped him off.

The others took that as their cue and quietly filed out of the room. Ophelia flicked off the light switch as she was the last one out, then quietly shut the door behind her.

Downstairs, Lou and Amory settled into their room. This room did have a dresser and a tv in it, so they really made out in the deal. Lou was quiet as she unpacked her suitcase, finding that she didn't know what to say to Amory now that they were alone together.

"So, uh, you been good?" Amory cleared his throat and questioned after a moment. He wasn't bothering unpacking just yet, because he didn't feel like it, so instead he leaned back on the bed frame and watched her hurry about.

"Yeah, you know. Just school and stuff." Lou answered nonchalantly.

Amory did know, better than anyone else there. They were the only two who had to take a fifth year; with him doing so mainly because his coach redshirted him his freshman year. He had seen the way it destroyed her, the way in which she had begun to doubt herself and her intelligence, even if she never said as much out loud. He had always held a special place for Lou in his heart, but that fifth year alone brought them even closer. That's why it hurt so much more when they began to grow apart over the last year.

"You wanna tell me why you needed this room so badly?" Amory raised his brows, though she wasn't looking at him.

"Just didn't want to share a room with three others." Lou shrugged. She was acting so casual, so closed off, and Amory knew he just needed to break her down a bit. Get her back to the comfort they once had.

"Alright, if you say so. But this better not be apart of some master plan to seduce me and reveal your undying love to me."

Lou whipped around at that, her cheeks red and her eyes wide. She had never seen Amory in that way, probably because she had often times bore witness to many, many other girls seeing him that way. When she saw the look on his face, and the way he was laughing at her, she couldn't help but laugh too. Lou rolled her eyes lightly then made her way to her side of the bed and grabbed a throw pillow to toss at him.

Amory caught it, naturally. That was kind of his whole job. He continued laughing, but was filled with warmth at knowing he had chipped away at her exterior, even if just a little bit.

"I'm building a wall of pillows between us." Lou grumbled in fake annoyance, but the smile on her face betrayed her.

Lou was left with the thought that maybe this trip was a good idea after all.

---

Ah! Chapter five! I've stayed consistent thus far!

I have to say that I got a kitten in December, and he is absolutely obsessed with me, so every time I sit down to write he's always crawling in my lap and trying to get on my laptop. Makes the whole ordeal quite a struggle lol.

I based the layout of the cabin on my father's own cabin. It's in the Appalachian mountains, which is a lot less glamorous than the Poconos, for all the non-american readers. The room upstairs with the bunkbed and twin beds has always been where I've been forced to go, so I'm forcing some struggle onto these characters having to live through it too lmao.

I like asking questions at the end, so for this one I'm going to ask: on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the absolute angriest, how mad would you be at Vallie in this chapter?